Wedding photographers
Discussion
Currently sorting out my wedding for 2016.
Venue is booked, cars are booked and transport is booked.
Looking at photographers now.
Any ideas what to look for in photographers? Prices are ranging from £500 to £1500, being in the North West/ North Wales.
Ideally I had thought £1000 would be about right for the day but it seems the majority charge alot more than that.
Venue is booked, cars are booked and transport is booked.
Looking at photographers now.
Any ideas what to look for in photographers? Prices are ranging from £500 to £1500, being in the North West/ North Wales.
Ideally I had thought £1000 would be about right for the day but it seems the majority charge alot more than that.
Being a picky bloke I had to raise my budget to 2.5k EUR for the photographer who covered our wedding back in August, I initially had 1.5k aside for it...unfortunately you get what you pay for (in most cases), we spent weekends over a period of 3 months meeting various togs to see their previous work etc before going with the final choice.
BlackST said:
Currently sorting out my wedding for 2016.
Venue is booked, cars are booked and transport is booked.
Looking at photographers now.
Any ideas what to look for in photographers? Prices are ranging from £500 to £1500, being in the North West/ North Wales.
Ideally I had thought £1000 would be about right for the day but it seems the majority charge alot more than that.
I'm no expert on this but I do know the costs can vary a lot depending on what you want as a result. Venue is booked, cars are booked and transport is booked.
Looking at photographers now.
Any ideas what to look for in photographers? Prices are ranging from £500 to £1500, being in the North West/ North Wales.
Ideally I had thought £1000 would be about right for the day but it seems the majority charge alot more than that.
Bear in mins that the person or people doing it will be required to make time for at least one and maybe 2 pre-meetings/probably a test shoot then spend perhaps at least 8 hours with you on the day but more like 14 or 15 if you ask for evening coverage. So that is already something like 2 to 3 8 hour working days even forgetting about travel time. After that comes the processing of the images and some presentation stuff.... probably at least 2 days work for an average wedding, mostly like 3 but perhaps a lot more .... depends upon what you have asked for.
I'm not trying to suggest a particular price is right for the job - just putting things into perspective especially for those elements of the project that are not always visible and familiar to the buyer.
look up simpotwo on here ( http://www.blokewithacamera.co.uk/ ) I`m an occasional wedding photographer, I don`t normally post stuff online but if you want I can send some stuff via email
Ray
Ray
ssray said:
look up simpotwo on here ( http://www.blokewithacamera.co.uk/ ) I`m an occasional wedding photographer, I don`t normally post stuff online but if you want I can send some stuff via email
Ray
North Wales is out of my range, but thanks very much for the mention Ray
Two things to look for, in my view:
The quality of their work
Their personality - whether you and your bride to be get on with the photographer.
We went to a bridal fair locally before we tied the knot, and looked at all the photographers who were exhibiting. Considering that an exhibition is supposed to be somewhere that you showcase your work, and therefore you bring your best products/images, the standard of many of the photographer's images and albums left a lot to be desired. I'm only a hobbyist photographer, albeit with a lot of experience looking at pictures/video, but when I look at photographs and think I could easily do better, then there's something wrong, I think.
Also, the only two photographers that we really felt comfortable with were the two female ones. All of the male ones were a bit 'odd', really, not to generalise at all, but that's just how we found it at this particular exhibition. It's difficult to explain why, but we chose one of the women, who did a superb job in the end. She ended up being quite expensive, £1,600 or more I think, but the results were worth it.
The quality of their work
Their personality - whether you and your bride to be get on with the photographer.
We went to a bridal fair locally before we tied the knot, and looked at all the photographers who were exhibiting. Considering that an exhibition is supposed to be somewhere that you showcase your work, and therefore you bring your best products/images, the standard of many of the photographer's images and albums left a lot to be desired. I'm only a hobbyist photographer, albeit with a lot of experience looking at pictures/video, but when I look at photographs and think I could easily do better, then there's something wrong, I think.
Also, the only two photographers that we really felt comfortable with were the two female ones. All of the male ones were a bit 'odd', really, not to generalise at all, but that's just how we found it at this particular exhibition. It's difficult to explain why, but we chose one of the women, who did a superb job in the end. She ended up being quite expensive, £1,600 or more I think, but the results were worth it.
Super Slo Mo said:
Two things to look for, in my view:
The quality of their work
Their personality - whether you and your bride to be get on with the photographer.
i
See this thread: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=22&...The quality of their work
Their personality - whether you and your bride to be get on with the photographer.
i
Thank you for the replies back to this.
I will actually look to see if there are any wedding fayres in the North Wales / North West area. That's a good suggestion as I have read a few times that it would be good to see if you get along with the photographer too.
Looks like I may have to up the budget a bit
I will actually look to see if there are any wedding fayres in the North Wales / North West area. That's a good suggestion as I have read a few times that it would be good to see if you get along with the photographer too.
Looks like I may have to up the budget a bit
We got married 2 months ago and luckily for me I know a handful of professional photographers as mates, I chose one of them specifically as he takes interesting and unusual photos to capture the day, obviously he'll do the usual stuff that is the norm for a wedding day but he puts a unique spin on things.
No discount for being a mate as such but probably more photos, that cost us £1500.
We got married near nantwich but he lives in the Lakes but does weddings throughout the UK, if you want any more info let me know and I'll provide his details and you can compare against your current quotes/quality.
No discount for being a mate as such but probably more photos, that cost us £1500.
We got married near nantwich but he lives in the Lakes but does weddings throughout the UK, if you want any more info let me know and I'll provide his details and you can compare against your current quotes/quality.
A photographer friend of mine and (in my opinion, and many others I might add) the best wedding photographer in the area, if not much further afield...
http://www.scottsharman.com
Prices are within your budget and you really will not be compromising the coverage of your day because he's not pricing himself out of peoples reach. Top bloke too.
http://www.scottsharman.com
Prices are within your budget and you really will not be compromising the coverage of your day because he's not pricing himself out of peoples reach. Top bloke too.
MysteryLemon said:
A photographer friend of mine and (in my opinion, and many others I might add) the best wedding photographer in the area, if not much further afield...
http://www.scottsharman.com
Prices are within your budget and you really will not be compromising the coverage of your day because he's not pricing himself out of peoples reach. Top bloke too.
The Mrs loves alot of his photos.http://www.scottsharman.com
Prices are within your budget and you really will not be compromising the coverage of your day because he's not pricing himself out of peoples reach. Top bloke too.
Thanks alot for the recommendation.
Seems really cheap though. Where's the catch?
Edited by BlackST on Wednesday 19th November 18:11
BlackST said:
The Mrs loves alot of his photos.
Thanks alot for the recommendation.
Seems really cheap though. Where's the catch?
There isn't one.Thanks alot for the recommendation.
Seems really cheap though. Where's the catch?
Edited by BlackST on Wednesday 19th November 18:11
Get in touch, if he's available that day, you wont regret it.
Quite a lot of people in this industry absolutely take the piss with regards to pricing. Scott could charge triple what he does and it would still be value for money. He's made a living out of treating customers honestly rather than trying to rip them off at every turn like a lot do.
www.sarahredman.co.uk did ours
Wedding was mid afternoon and she spent the preceding couple of hours with my wife / bridesmaid, then went to the church to capture the arrivals and stayed with us until the evening dinner and reception.
Really nice to have around and never got in the way. Great photos too.
Wedding was mid afternoon and she spent the preceding couple of hours with my wife / bridesmaid, then went to the church to capture the arrivals and stayed with us until the evening dinner and reception.
Really nice to have around and never got in the way. Great photos too.
MysteryLemon said:
BlackST said:
The Mrs loves alot of his photos.
Thanks alot for the recommendation.
Seems really cheap though. Where's the catch?
There isn't one.Thanks alot for the recommendation.
Seems really cheap though. Where's the catch?
Edited by BlackST on Wednesday 19th November 18:11
Get in touch, if he's available that day, you wont regret it.
Quite a lot of people in this industry absolutely take the piss with regards to pricing. Scott could charge triple what he does and it would still be value for money. He's made a living out of treating customers honestly rather than trying to rip them off at every turn like a lot do.
Super Slo Mo said:
Or, to put it another way, he's happy to do what amounts to close on a week's work for £600, including the purchase and maintenance of all his kit. Personally I think he's selling himself short, as it's not a fantastic wage for the skill set required, although his photos don't appeal to me anyway but that's subjective to some extent.
I know a few wedding photographers at that price point and the way they make it work is each wedding is a 'turn and burn'; shoot the pics, minimal post processing and send off the disc. Any more than that and they'd be on way less than the minimum wage. Also most of those guys aren't full time photographers, but have another job or are semi retired.MysteryLemon said:
Quite a lot of people in this industry absolutely take the piss with regards to pricing...
...rather than trying to rip them off at every turn like a lot do.
A lot of people look at wedding photography prices and react like that without realising what those prices really cover. I typically put in over 50 hours of work for each wedding I shoot. I then have costs for camera gear, travel, IT costs (computer and hard drives need replacing, Adobe CC subscription etc), website running costs, insurance, accountancy, sample albums, substantial marketing/advertising costs (the price to exhibit at one of the big wedding fairs in London is £2k for the stand cost alone!) and this list goes on. My salary only comes out after all of those are paid....rather than trying to rip them off at every turn like a lot do.
There are wedding photographers out there at a very wide range of prices, but please don't assume anyone charging more than say £600 is just taking the piss. There are very differing levels of service and skill as well as photographic styles being offered, but that's a good thing right? It can just make it a tough job for a couple to find the right photographer for them.
We found our guy (2 yrs ago) via a Wedding Fayre, he had bought details from the mailing list then contacted us. Came round one evening to show some examples of work (very handy for us) and we got on with him from the off, which worked really well on the test-shoot and on the day itself.
We got:
1 x album for us (120 pictures)
2 x parents albums (40 pics each)
850 high quality digital original on DVD to do what we like with, copyright free.
Test shoot at the reception venue a week beforehand
Attendance on the actual day at home/church/reception from 10:30am to 9pm. We had a DJ, followed by a live band, he very kindly offered to stay on 2hrs after the first dance so he could get pics of us with the band. We made sure the caterers looked after him, he got the full wedding breakfast!
All for 800 quid.
I thought it was an absolute bargain, especially for the South East. We've since recommended him on to two other couples, both equally pleased.
That worked fine for us, the digital copies have been the best thing. The 100 best ones are on a rolling screensaver/slideshow on the laptop, so we get to see them fairly regularly, as opposed to the album book which is tucked away for safe keeping to come out when we want to bore the tits off visitors!
We got:
1 x album for us (120 pictures)
2 x parents albums (40 pics each)
850 high quality digital original on DVD to do what we like with, copyright free.
Test shoot at the reception venue a week beforehand
Attendance on the actual day at home/church/reception from 10:30am to 9pm. We had a DJ, followed by a live band, he very kindly offered to stay on 2hrs after the first dance so he could get pics of us with the band. We made sure the caterers looked after him, he got the full wedding breakfast!
All for 800 quid.
I thought it was an absolute bargain, especially for the South East. We've since recommended him on to two other couples, both equally pleased.
That worked fine for us, the digital copies have been the best thing. The 100 best ones are on a rolling screensaver/slideshow on the laptop, so we get to see them fairly regularly, as opposed to the album book which is tucked away for safe keeping to come out when we want to bore the tits off visitors!
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